Cross Country Newsletter (9-28-2011)

Cross Country Newsletter (9-28-2011)

REVIEW: We enjoyed great weather and another outstanding week in cross country this past week. We enjoyed a good week of practices and performed very well at the Sunny Hills Invitational even though we were not especially pointing to this meet. We came away with many individual awards and very good team results. Our girls finished 1st overall in the 32-team meet and the boys finished 4th out of 32 schols. Additionally, in the individual races, the senior and junior girls came in 1st, the soph girls and frosh boys came in 2nd, and the soph boys came in 3rd.

I think our athletes performed well in this meet even though we had an emotional let down from our Invitational the previous week. Practically all of our returning athletes registered a better time this year than last year and even though the course is about 20 seconds or so slower than the Woodbridge invite course, many had PRs or very close to Prs for the season. Our boys ran 79:16 compared to the 81:27 in ‘10 and 81:30 in ’09, 82:23 in ’08, 84:11 in ’07. Our girls finished with a time of 92:36 compared to 96:20 in ’10 and 98:24 in ’09, 104:25 in ’08 (we were not at 100% though) and 98:46 in ’07.

Last week was the start of a two-week heavy-training period that will prepare us for our first league meet and OC Championships. This is a key period of the season for us! The heat will get in our way this week but we will try to do the best we can. We want to make sure that each day we come out ready (especially mentally) for this hard workout period. If we put in the effort now, we will reap the benefits later and be ready for the league meet as well as the Orange County Championships. Our team enjoyed one of the best workouts ever this past Thursday. For the first time this year, all of our varsity athletes were on the same page. We need this performance at every workout each of the reamining weeks of the season.

Also, at this time of the season, most of our athletes are getting somewhat tired from not only our workouts and races but also from the homework load and we are beginning to have some atheltes getting a little sick. We have invested a whole lot in our season thus far to take chances with it. It is extremely important that each and every athlete eats healthy, hydrates well, gets enough sleep, does not share water bottles, etc. and gets as much rest as possible. Colds and different diseases occur more often when our bodies are tired and vulnerable.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Nicole (Coco) Evans ran a strong, aggresive and positive race and faster this year than last year. With this kind of performance our team is that much tougher. Jackson Marshall enjoyed another strong race and has a new PR. Vastly improved runners were Bianca Moreno, Jared Klopfer, Marcos Tabb, Sage Klemak, Josh Thatcher, John Franklin, Alexis Abad and Cory Chesser. The “rookies of the year” were Elise Ulwelling ran a PR on a course slower than WHS) and Joseph Carrillo .

WEEKLY SCHEDULE:

1. Yucaipa Invitational on Saturday at Yucaipa High School. WHS to I-5 North to 55 North to 91 East to I-10 East (towards Palm Springs) to Yucaipa Blvd (this is after the city of Redlands). Turn left. The school is on the left about 2 miles from the off ramp. We will have a bus for this meet also (keep the donations coming so that we can pay for it) and it will leave at 5:30am. Be here by 5:15am. You can bypass the longer route (taking the 55) and just take the CA-241 North (toll road) to the 91 East. The trip takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes on the bus and about 1 hour for the rest
.
2. The schedule of races is:
• Girls Frosh/Soph - 8:10am Boys Frosh/Soph - 8:40am
• Girls Varsity - 9:10am Boys Varsity - 9:40am
• Boys JV - 10:10am Girls JV - 10:35am

3. We will be going to Oak Glenn after the meet for apples and to listen to Merle. Bring money for your lunch or prepare a picnic basket with your friends. Fried chicken and potato salad would be great. We will leave Oak Glenn at 1:00 pm or so to return to WHS at about 2:30pm.

4. Let’s continue to improve as we head into the critical weeks of the season. We have league meets and the Orange County Championships coming up in the next two weeks. We can afford to really pile up the work (even if we will be feeling sluggish) this next week to assure a strong finish to our season!

5. PSAT - This important test is scheduled on the same day as the O. C. Championships. There is an alternate date for this test. Please see Ms Taylor in the counseling office to sign up for this alternate date.

6. The following week we will have our League Cluster Meet on Thursday and a practice on Saturday. Make your social plans accordingly.

7. Anybody needing uniforms must see the equipment man at lunch or before practice during 6th period.

8. Anyone needing team lockers, cometo room E-202. Each of you should have a locker in the team room.

9. Invitational T-Shirts are now on sale for $7.00 (make checks payablet o WHS)

10. If a family would like to make a donation to help with bus transportation, please make the check payable to WHS.


**** Remember that the biggest obstacle to being great is to be good! We cannot be satisfied with being good or being ranked! Being satisfied with being good (collective mediocrity) robs each one of us of the precious talents that lie dormant in us. Let us aim to be the best!

Cross Country Smoke Signals (9-19-2011)

Cross Country Smoke Signals (9-19-2011)
(posted on www.gvarvas.com)


Woodbridge CC Classic 2011 was a spectacular meet and a huge success!  So much energy all around the course. It was a fun, exciting, competative and loud meet. It was the largest meet in the 31 history of the event. 10% larger. Over 12,000 athletes from some 218 schools registered for the meet and over 9,300 finished the races (an increase of over 500 from the previous high).

As a member of the Woodbridge Family, I share in the pride of being part of this event.  I want to personally thank and congratulate the parents, athletes, coaches and friends who volunteered much of their time, muscles and expertise to help make sure that this event went off smoothly. Whether you did a lot for the meet or the minimum, the meet could not have happened without your help!  From the set up, to the break down, all of you were huge help to me personally and our coaches.  Make no mistake; you all play a huge roll in this meet.  It is our athletes, our parents, our friends, and our coaches that make this meet what it is... the best cross country meet in the World.  The course monitors, the check-in people, the results people, the timing crews, the chute marshals, the water people, etc. are the ones that the coaches and athletes come in contact with as they participate in this meet.  If any of these helpers left a bad impression with these coaches and athletes, they (coaches and athletes) would not want to come back as they do.  You all must be doing a great job to have them wanting to come back year after year to this crowded and competitive meet.  Share in the success of it and once again, thank you!

  
What a great night Woodbridge 2011 turned out to be for our team!!!  Cross country does not get much better than this.  As coaches (and meet managers), we always want to have our athletes experience the best that cross country can be.  If they like this, then we hope that they will commit themselves (catch the cross country disease) to an endless pursuit of being the best they can possibly be.  The meet was a huge success again and the performances of our athletes reached “prime time".
  
Our team and individuals turned in outstanding efforts at the Invitational.  If you look at the results, athlete after athlete achieved PRs and showed improvement from previous meets.  The Girls ran 88:34 to finish 3rd in the sweepstakes race (most competitive race of the day). This is a huge improvement over past years: 92:04 in 2010, 95:29 in ’09, 96:00 in ’08, 91:03 in ’07, 91:03 in ’06, 92:02 in ’05, 95:37 in ’04, 92:33 in ’03, 95:30 in ’02, 94:53 in ’01, 96:31 in ’00, & 95:11 in ’99 (State champs), We were 1st of the league schools (CDM-91:29, Uni-94:34, Beckman 98:10, northwood -94:08, Irvine 97:49)

The Boys ran an excellent 77:50 (fastest time ever of us at this meet) compared to 78:02, in ‘10 and 78:51 in ’09 78:42 in ’08, 79:23 in ’07, 79:11 in ’06, 82:56 in ’05, 83:35 in ’04, 83:03 in ’03, 82:50 in ’02, 83:31 in ’01, 85:13 in ’00, and 86:25 in ’99.  The boys had the fastest time from our league (Beckman- 79:59, CDM-80:03, Northwood-82:40, Uni-78:14).
  
Many of our athletes jumped into the next level of times and came away with some nice medals to validate their hard work and tough racing.  Very impressive!  Lots of teen-agers running in the teens, lots of high fives, smiles and excitement in the accomplishments.   Results like these show you how much mental our sport is.  These results show us more about our potential than any of the other races we have run this year.  We can achieve our team and individual goals when we set our minds to them, we believe in our training and ourselves and just run instead of thinking about failing as we try to reach our goals.  If you like what took place on Saturday, then go after it at our workouts.  It is here (workouts) that you can make the difference.  When the coaches demand your best in these practices, it is because they recognize the awesome potential that is in each of you!  You win races and run fast time long before your race takes place. “success demands payment in advance”
  
The parent help was unbelievable. The course monitors were so crucial and did an unbelievable job on this tricky course.  How they kept the crowd from interfering with the runners is beyond me.  The chute people handled those hectic races as if they do this for a living.  Again a big, big thanks to all.
  
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK (so hard to choose just one): Molly Babcock (# 2 All time for WHS an d for a senior) and Madeline Bradford (# 5 All Time sophomore and just 2 seconds off the top ten all time). Dragan Simic (number 3 time ever for WHS and # 2 all time senior performance) and Brandon Ferguson ( # 7 all time WHS and # 7 All time Senior). Rookies of the meet: Emily Birchler and Jonah Bonner. Most improved: Alex Henderson and Jesse Lesser and Hannah O’Connor for the girls and Jarred Klopfer, Jake Suiste (# 7 all time sophomores) and Jackson Marshall (# 4 all time sophomores) for the boys

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
  
1) Sunny Hills Invitational on Saturday at Craig Park in Brea (WHS to 5 North to 57 North to Imperial and left to Stae College and left into the park).  Gates open at 7:00am and cars are charged $5.  We leave at 6:00 am from the front parking lot. Parents drive the athletes as they did for laguna Hills.

2) Race times are as follows:
 8:00am  Senior Girls, 8:30am  Senior Boys, 9:00am  Frosh Girls, 9:30am  Frosh Boys, 10:00am Junior Girls, 10:30am Junior Boys, 11:00am Soph Girls, 11:30am Soph Boys

3) Catch up this week with getting glockers for the athletic rooms and uniforms. Things will settle down now that the WHS invitational is over.

4) Back to school night is coming up and we will meet in the media center after the general 6th period meeting. Pass the word to your parents.
     
We are beginning two weeks of hard workouts before we taper a bit for the league and OC meets. Be ready for this and make a statement about being serious of going after your goals!